Knife blocks of many sorts are well known, and comprise a block of material, such as wood, with a plurality of elongate recesses each intended for receipt of a knife. Usually the elongate recesses are of different generally rectangular cross sectional shapes such that they are suitable for receipt of different sizes of knives as would typically be included in a collection of kitchen knives.
One problem which many users of such knives often experience is that the knives become less sharp over time, such that they no longer perform adequately in the kitchen. Clearly the solution to this problem is to sharpen the knives. However, the necessary equipment to sharpen the knives may not be readily to hand or may require skills that the knife user does not have. This can mean that the knives are not sharpened when they should be.
It is also known to provide a knife block with an elongate recess specifically for receipt of a knife sharpening means in the form of a traditional “steel” (a hand held knife sharpening means being an elongate piece of steel, and sometimes these days of other materials such as ceramics, which is generally round or oval in cross section, and may be textured, with a handle to hold it by when using it to sharpen a knife). However, using a steel to sharpen a knife is a skilled process, and that skill is often not taught to the users of knives, thus this solution does not solve the problem for all users.